Flexible Education Options Put Students on the Road to Success

Not every child is
the same, so it stands to reason that not every educational experience should
be the same, right? Flexible education options give kids and their parents a
better ability to customize an education that works best for them, writes
Goldwater Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Butcher in a
new piece for the Deseret News,
and states that don’t offer such options should embrace them.

Florida mother Andrea
Wiggins knows the difference that these flexible options can make in a child’s
life. Her daughter Elizabeth has special needs that make learning a challenge,
but because Andrea had access to a Gardiner Scholarship (Florida’s education
savings account, or ESA, program), she was able to pay for teaching materials,
therapies, and private school tuition—all of which made it easier for Elizabeth
to learn and help reach her full potential. Today, Elizabeth is thriving in a
district high school—and the Gardiner Scholarship helped make that possible.

Florida is one of
just a handful of states that offer ESAs to students. The Goldwater Institute
was instrumental in passing Arizona’s first-in-the-nation ESA program in 2011, creating
the country’s first program of public contributions to ESAs for special needs
students, and giving those students and their families a greater ability to
design educational experiences that work for them. The Institute had seminal
victories for school choice in 2015 by defeating legal challenges to Florida
and Louisiana’s school choice programs. These rulings reinforced Arizona’s legal
precedent, and they paved the way for greater school choice programs across the
country.

And that’s great
news—because students in all 50 states deserve to have the same option to build
an education that fits their needs. Take Utah, for example, writes Butcher.
It’s a state with a growing and evolving population, and greater education flexibility
would help students as they plan for their careers:

Many families in Utah need flexible solutions like these to
prepare their children for success. Utah’s population is growing rapidly, which
means a larger K-12 population, more children with special needs, and an
employment sector that is also changing. According to the Utah Department of
Workforce Services, retail jobs are growing at a slower pace than occupations
in the fields of information technology and health care. Utah’s parents and
education system need flexibility to prepare students for a changing workplace.

And Utah’s
situation—and the situations of its students—are by no means unique. No matter
where they live, students have educational needs that would be better satisfied
by teaching tools, tutoring, and alternative classroom options—and having
access to these would help put them on the path to achievement on their own
terms.